kscans

Chapter 405 - Time Bomb

—Three figures floated in a cloudless azure sky.

One white, one blue, and one a mix of white and blue. The figures, clad in colors that seemed to melt into the clear sky, fixed their gazes on the 'White' below.

And one of them… the young man clad in white and blue, was so incredibly into it, sporting a wicked grin so intense it made you want to writhe and plead, 'Seriously, stop, have some self-control,' his voice booming so loudly you'd wonder who he even was as he—roared.

'We're here for some payback—Tsarkalv!!'

""Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!""

"Just kill me now."

"Kaede, remember to breathe."

"I can't…!"

The morning after the fierce battle with the 'White Throne.'

After responding to a demonic barrage of messages and calls that made me worry my phone would explode, I was sentenced to an early-morning forced summoning and found myself surrounded by my friends.

I had already shared my schedule from yesterday with them. We were supposed to meet up today anyway for me to hand over the data for the archive upload, so in a way, it was according to plan.

However, I was not informed that I'd be woken up at five in the morning and summoned to the Shijo residence before six. You college-student nerds are way too energetic.

And so, here we are now, in the middle of a viewing party for the raw, unedited data—a special video recording that can only be handled with the [Arcadia Archive].

Archive data, which records everything around the player who filmed it, is not bound to a single perspective, despite being a recording from a single player.

To put it simply, this isn't a two-dimensional recording, but a three-dimensional one. Unlike a camera that can only capture a flat, single-perspective image, 'recording' in the world of Arcadia captures everything around the recorder.

So, you can basically move the viewpoint freely even during playback, and switch between first-person and third-person as you please… yeah, something like that.

It's a piece of over-technology, fundamentally different from existing video technology.

And because of its bizarrely complex specifications, the editing process is also bizarrely complex and difficult. It seems to be a tough job, to the point where Kaede's older sister and the genius university student team, who are pros at video editing, often cry out in despair.

According to Toshiki, studying for entrance exams was easier. They should be getting paid a decent wage for this part-time job, so I really hope they do their best.

—And then,

"Alright, let's move on to the Nozomin interrogation time."

"""No objections!"""

"Objection!"

After we'd gone through the footage, the situation shifted, as expected, to the usual question time—or rather, interrogation time. I tried to protest the flow, which even Kaede had unhesitatingly joined for once, but sadly, my objection was unanimously ignored.

'Interrogation' sounds harsh, but I have a pretty good idea of what they're going to ask. Now, I wonder which one will come first—

"Let's start with the lighter one. What's the deal with that super cute partner of yours?"

"You just said the answer yourself. Exactly that, she's my partner."

So, it seems they're starting with the questions about Sora. 'The lighter one'… well, if you don't know the truth, I guess it is the lighter one.

I obviously can't share with my friends that Sora is the Yotsuya heiress, 'Sora Yotsuya,' or that we're in a fake engagement to avoid various complications, and I have no plans to in the future.

However, I had no intention of hiding the 'Sora' I met through Arcadia and partnered with. So, if they found out, they found out. I had no hesitation.

"It'd be a pain if you guys start speculating, so I'll just tell you everything at once—"

This was the umpteenth time I'd recounted the story of how I met Sora.

I laid it all out—how we met on the very day I started the game and the course of our adventures together, skipping over a few parts here and there… and yup, there's that reaction.

"You really are a light novel protagonist, aren't you?"

"What's with that textbook boy-meets-girl story?"

"…Conversely, how are you still just partners?"

"…!!!!"

Is Kaede okay over there? Is she breathing?

Anyway, I had learned from experience that the quickest way to handle this was to swallow my embarrassment and make a firm 'declaration.'

"—She's important to me. So, don't tease me about it too much, okay?"

"…Whoa…"

"Wah…"

"…Mm, got it."

"…!!!!!!!!"

"Mizuki-san, rescue."

"Kaede, breathe."

And so, I succeeded in getting the four of them to back down for now. I was a bit worried about the condition of one of them, but it seemed she was breathing without issue, which was a relief.

"…So, what's next?"

I was embarrassed myself, but this kind of thing is probably embarrassing for the listeners too. I prompted my friends, who had fallen silent with somewhat indescribable expressions, having lost their momentum.

And then, pulling herself together, the next to ask a question was—

"Ashe."

—Mizuki, taking over for Shoko, who had fallen silent, her cheeks faintly flushed with awkwardness.

"You called the 'Princess' that."

"Yeah. It was her request, or rather, she kind of forced me to use a nickname—"

"Family."

—so I did… wait, what?

"Family, you say?"

Even as I asked, a bad feeling started to grow. This was it, the usual feeling—the atmosphere when I'm missing some crucial piece of knowledge.

I haven't actively looked up information about Ashe, or Iris, or Alicia White. She's a friend I've met in real life… well, yeah.

I feel hesitant to research someone who's more than a friend; I believe if you're going to get to know someone, you should do it by talking to them yourself.

However, it seems that this time, that policy was a fatal mistake.

"I think it's a famous story among her fans, but…"

The 'new information' that Mizuki calmly revealed was,

"The only people allowed to use that name are those who are especially close to her—in other words, her family."

—for me, it was a bombshell tantamount to a death sentence.

"…May I ask what kind of relationship you have with her?"

"…For now, just…"

Could you please put a pin in that?

Because I now have a few things I need to confirm with a certain 'Princess.'